D&D 5E Tiefling´s horns & tail

[Mephista]

Not being a fan of the FR novels, I didn't know this bit of lore - that FR tieflings are a group of pre-4e tieflings that did the thing that made the 4e tieflings. It's interesting that the Asmodeus-linked tieflings are explicitly old-school tieflings who did a specific thing in a specific world. That has some ramifications for how they might address this in future material.

Like, it would totally be consistent for a PS-style sourcebook on planar adventurers to, at some point, say something like

Rubes from the Prime might think that all tielfings look the same and all are sworn to some lord of the nine or whatever, but that's just one of the many reasons not to trust rubes from the Prime. That might be the only story they're familiar with, but anyone who knows the planes knows there's more types of tieflings (or aasimar or genasi or whatever) than there are blades of grass in Arborea. If anyone imagines they all know how what a tiefling looks like or what it's story is, they're in for a rude awakening and a quick mugging when they wind up in Sigil.​

....or whatever. And using that particular story lets them do that.

Mmhm. One of the cool things I really like about Evan's stories - she takes the changes between editions as plot hooks instead of waving them away. She actually designed the story behind why succubi left the Abyss for the Nine Hells in 4e, and how they're now free agents in 5e.

Another thing is that she actually introduced an old Planescape style tiefling in her books as well, a descendant of the Abyss, and the reaction that one of the infernal tieflings had when faced with them. So, its actually cannon that both the infernal-pact tieflings and the Planescape-style tieflings are running around Faerun.

The one problem that I have is that WotC won't officially "validate" that methodology.

The old Planescape style tieflings are cannon inside of Faerun (see above), and we have the DMG rules for making them. Can't get much more valid then that! Official lore plus rules for them.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

The old Planescape style tieflings are cannon inside of Faerun (see above), and we have the DMG rules for making them. Can't get much more valid then that! Official lore plus rules for them.

While it's nice to hear that the novels retain that bit of lore, I'm not sure what you are referring to in the DMG. Mine is completely silent on the issue.

 

[Mephista]

While it's nice to hear that the novels retain that bit of lore, I'm not sure what you are referring to in the DMG. Mine is completely silent on the issue.

Under aasimar, it talks about how to create alternative tieflings. Hells, the aasimar is nothing more but an alternative tiefling.

 

[psiconauta_retro]

For that, there's the Planetouched: +2 Cha, +1 to any one ability score, darkvision, one kind of resistance, one exotic language, a cantrip at 1st, a 1st level spell at 3rd, and a 2nd level spell at 5th. Mix and match, roll on a chart, make your own.

THIS!! It is very awesome! Did you come up with it or where did you get it from?

If the horns and the tail are just for style/flavor/roleplaying-aid then I can talk with my DM to use this Planetouched kit along with 2 new physical traits that don't provide any advantage (maybe a donkey tail and a toucan beak or whatever). If I dont have to have infernal background I want to come from outer space (spelljamming much?).

 

[PnPgamer]

Anyone know why tieflings suddenly started having such big horns in 4th and 5th edition?

Because they started to feel hornier than usual.
Because their bells do not work.
They compensate for something.
The world got rid of horn flakes and tieflings are mad about it.
They started to raise hornets, you know, for obvious reasons.
Because tiefling horns make great horns (the instruments)

 

[I'm A Banana]

THIS!! It is very awesome! Did you come up with it or where did you get it from?

If the horns and the tail are just for style/flavor/roleplaying-aid then I can talk with my DM to use this Planetouched kit along with 2 new physical traits that don't provide any advantage (maybe a donkey tail and a toucan beak or whatever). If I dont have to have infernal background I want to come from outer space (spelljamming much?).

It's a bit....er....wordy, but here's something I whipped up a few months back: http://daedaluswing.wikidot.com/planetouched. I'd let my players do it.

The physical thing is entirely cosmetic, no advantage to it. Though there's not that many toucan beaks on display, there's more diverse look for tieflings pre-4e. Some of my faves, from Planescape:

http://www.gamebanshee.com/images/com_sobi2/gallery/992/TranscendantOrderRhys.jpg

http://dnd.aberrantmanifest.com/races/tiefling.JPG

http://uo-planescape.wdfiles.com/lo...2ed_Planescape-The_Planewalker's_Handbook.jpg (they're the two things chatting in the center of that pic)

 

[psiconauta_retro]

It's a bit....er....wordy, but here's something I whipped up a few months back: http://daedaluswing.wikidot.com/planetouched. I'd let my players do it.

The physical thing is entirely cosmetic, no advantage to it. Though there's not that many toucan beaks on display, there's more diverse look for tieflings pre-4e. Some of my faves, from Planescape:

http://www.gamebanshee.com/images/com_sobi2/gallery/992/TranscendantOrderRhys.jpg

http://dnd.aberrantmanifest.com/races/tiefling.JPG

http://uo-planescape.wdfiles.com/lo...2ed_Planescape-The_Planewalker's_Handbook.jpg (they're the two things chatting in the center of that pic)

Your website is SUPER AWESOME, I love it, thanks a lot!!!

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Under aasimar, it talks about how to create alternative tieflings. Hells, the aasimar is nothing more but an alternative tiefling.

I'm not really seeing it say that. I do agree that the aasimar creation example gives us a great pattern, but nothing in there says anything about creating variant tieflings. Maybe that was in the alpha PHB with all its other goodness that didn't make the cut...

 

[Fralex]

Oh, yeah, the DMG aasimar were cool. I changed their damage resistance to lightning, though, because I felt like resisting both positive and negative energy broke the symmetry with the tiefling's fire resistance. Lightning works well, since it has long been a symbol of divine judgement from the heavens. I made their spells be thaumaturgy, prayer of healing, and branding smite(3rd-level).

 

[Mercule]

Personally, no tieflings in my multiverse look like that, nor do they have that backstory. I use the 2e/3e style tieflings, just using the stats from the PHB. The one problem that I have is that WotC won't officially "validate" that methodology. Even a sentence in the DMG to the effect that "not all tieflings in the multiverse are descendants of...blah blah blah...it's all about Asmodeus!...blah blah blah. Other tielfings have a variety of different forms and their fiendish heritage is less overt, usually having only a couple fiendish features."

This. Fortunately, most of my players at least date back to 3E, if not earlier, so everyone just views it as fixing something incomprehensibly stupid that WotC added in. If I had any new players who squawked, I guess I'd just have to let them know that I like tieflings, but find the 4E/5E physical description to be... ill advised... and that most tieflings can pass for human from a distance and/or with a bit of effort.

To the original question, assuming the 5E standard look: playing a tiefling monk would allow you to use your horns. You could even perform the "flurry of horns" attack.